Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What's Right and What to Do about It

Bazerman and Tenbrunsel describe why people with good intentions may fail to act in accordance with their own ethical standards. Relying on studies from the field of behavioral ethics, psychology, and other social sciences they demonstrate presence of "blind spots," or ethical vulnerabilities which are often outside of their own conscious awareness. "Without an awareness of blind sports, traditional approaches to ethics won't be particular useful in improving behavior" (p. 37). They note that approaches such as developing ethics codes, or giving mandatory lectures on ethics are often ineffective. Fortunately, they offer specific strategies to help the readers avoid "ethical sinkholes." They ask the readers to consider, for example, whether a problem is defined as an ethical issue or a non-ethical issue (such as a business decision or an engineering decision); whether prejudices that are outside of their conscious awareness may motivate their behaviors; whether informal or unwritten forces within the organization encourage employees to ignore or minimize the ethical implications of a decision; or whether isolation, uncertainty or time pressures may increase the likelihood of an unethical decision. Bazerman and Tenbrunsel look at ethics from the standpoint of individual, institutional, and societal decision making. Their book is clearly written with good examples and research results that are clearly explained and it has applications for business owners, employees, professionals, and everyday individuals.

This is a fantastic book—well-researched and well-written. However, is that it feels dated. Published 14 years ago, much of the content has since been explored in other popular behavioral economics books (yes, the marshmallow test makes an appearance). Of course, that’s not the authors’ fault. If you have already read authors like Gladwell, Kahneman, and others, you will likely find familiar territory here. That said, if you are just starting to explore behavioral economics or popular ethics, this book serves as an excellent introduction and a solid foundation for further reading in the field.

This is an engaging book that is well worth your time. It is full of examples and does a great job explaining why things do and do not happen. You will learn more about yourself and others. These heavyweight authors have the credibility that books by other authors in this category lack. My biggest criticism of the book is that it is too short and it ends too quickly.

Amazing insights. A must read for all. Ethicality is a buzz word in newspapers, magazines and among top managers and politicians, but after reading this book you will realize how many misperceptions there are about the concept. They are less ethical than they think, I am less ethical than I think, and You are...well, judge for yourself!

I argued for an hour or longer that the book was titled Blond Spots not Blind Spots and then realized I was wrong. Like a true collegiate I then suddenly blocked him in a paranoid manner and covered up my lack of knowledge and ethics with verbosity, weird looks and an inappropriate tone for any conversation that someone who wants a dialogue would have.

The coverage of behavioral ethics - mainly concerned with the chasm that can sometimes form between ethical convictions and action, both in organizations and individuals - in this book is nothing short of excellent, and the material is surprisingly well referenced. The book also uses factual descriptions to illustrate the material throughout, providing an excellent frame of reference for the reader - although the buyer of such a book has probably already formed his own frame of reference prior to taking interest in the book! The only reason I refrain from a 5 star rating is that the author couldn't help mix in some unsubstantiated conclusions along. Once every few pages, farfetched analogies are stretched in order to substantiate some claims that are presented without rigorous discussion, possibly reflecting a personal orientation of the author (which deriving from those bias, I would guess has an utilitarian view of ethics, and a left-oriented political ideology). Some conclusions are also reached after large logical jumps that are not necessarily valid.

Even if I wasn't in a business ethics class, I would consider reading this book. It is very insightful and allows the reader to uncover the ethical blind spots between how ethical you think you are and how ethical you actually are. A learning experience.

I found the book useful and helpful, but overall, it's a bit difficult to get a wealth of help from two authors who agree there are no core ethics that people need to follow - that what's right is relative. Yet look at every society across the ages and you'll see that no matter where (or when) you do, things like honesty and integrity are valued, and lying and stealing are bad. Still, the book had some good points and helpful questions.

new book, fast shipping.

This book is an absolute must read for all business and technical professionals, law makers and enforces. It gives a good overview of comparative ethics, from which can be derived a greater understanding of some of the causes and mechanisms of unethical events. And by implication, what can be done to avoid or correct their occurrence.

To the point, good examples and cases, well developed and easy to read. Extremely useful.

Just brilliant. I now understand myself a little better. As with most such works the premise seems obvious when you read it but it makes you wonder why you hadn't realised before.